Cosmos, culture and landscape : documenting, learning and sharing Aboriginal astronomical knowledge in contemporary society

Contemporary Australian Aboriginal astronomical knowledge, its documentation, sharing and communication is investigated, primarily from three Western Australian locations (1) Murchison region (associated with Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory), (2) East Kimberley (Wolfe Creek Meteorite Crater) and (3) the South West of Western Australia. Astronomical knowledge is examined via three surveys and in-depth interviews with 27 participants. Digital imaging (360° & timelapse) is applied to create new and original Aboriginal astronomy resources (virtual tour and exhibition videos)

Re-imagining Teacher Leadership: An Autoethnographic Inquiry

Leadership has been given deliberate prominence in education in the quest to activate educational capacity and improve educational performance within schools (Hargreaves & Ainscow, 2015). Expectations for the teaching profession as a whole, and in particular teacher leadership, are central to the hopes of “improving school outcomes, improving the educational attainment of students, and replacing conceptualizations of leadership” (Torrance & Humes, 2015, p. 792). In spite of the positive rhetoric regarding teacher leadership, it has not been successful in achieving these aims, especially on a wider scale (Barth, 2013; Coggins & McGovern, 2014). Re-imagining teacher leadership raises the question of what teacher leadership is, why it has not been deemed successful, and what spaces exist for teachers to lead within. The author’s experiences are situated through self-narrative writing and compared to existing literature on teacher leadership, raising questions as to why existing educational landscapes might remain inhospitable to the legitimacy of teacher leadership. While micro-events are the focus of this research, their relationship to macro-structures indicates the need for re-imagining the spaces where teachers can lead within school systems. This autoethnographic inquiry illustrates how reflection on career events and teacher leadership experiences can enrich the description of educational leadership and the role educators can take in fostering leadership.

Show and Tell: Learning with Interactive Videoconferencing in Kindergarten

The research investigated how kindergartners make meaning using interactive videoconferencing. The study explored two research questions: 1) What types of meanings are being formed by the kindergartners during interactive videoconferences and, 2) What are the nature of young children\u27s emerging inquiries and dialogue surrounding their use of interactive videoconferencing in their classroom? The study embodied a Vygotskian perspective as the theoretical framework in order to meet demands associated with the young participants\u27 vulnerability, developmental appropriateness, and the students\u27 interactive learning environment. Employing an ethnographic, participant observation methodology, the research design was informed by three criteria: 1) a pilot study, 2) Miles and Huberman\u27s (1994a) recurring themes in qualitative data analysis, and 3) literature review results emphasizing the nuances of contemporary culture. Field observation occurred from October 2007 through February 2008 in a Southwestern Pennsylvania kindergarten classroom. Students participated in 7 videoconferences with distant peers or content experts. Data from a gingerbread and puppetry videoconference and an astronomy program were selected for further analysis based on their ability to illustrate poignant examples of how the kindergartners formed meaning during collaborations. Data analysis procedures involved the importing of dialogue from videoconferencing transcriptions, field notes, and other artifacts into the ATLAS.ti qualitative data analysis software for open coding, data display, and grounded theory development. Results developed from open coding and concept maps in ATLAS.ti informed the following theory development. First, learning with interactive videoconferencing in kindergarten supports meaning making from four Vygotskian tenets: 1) the social origins of learning, 2) sign and tool use through mediated activity, 3) the importance of language, and 4) support for the zone of proximal development. Additionally, the students\u27 meaning making involved the tenets\u27 entwinement rather than the solitary occurrence of individual tenets. Regarding the kindergartners\u27 emerging inquiries, during sustained interactive videoconferencing levels, children\u27s inquiries and dialogue evidenced exploratory talk that was purposeful, reflective and self-directed. It also indicated comfort with the technology. This study is unique in its multidisciplinary application of Vygotskian learning theory to kindergartners\u27 meaning making with videoconferencing and provides a foundation for extended use of qualitative methods to examine young children\u27s\u27 learning with technology

The effects on student knowledge and engagement when using a culturally responsive framework to teach ASTR 101

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThe U.S. has a problem: it is not effectively utilizing all the bright young minds available to its science & engineering workforce. In 2012 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) reported that a million more STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce were needed over the next decade. PCAST reported that the situation is far worse for underrepresented students, who make up 70% of undergraduate students but only 45% of the STEM degrees. Recent reports suggest women in science and engineering have made small gains, while historically underrepresented ethnic groups (Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians) continue to be significantly underrepresented. The lack of diversity in the U.S. workforce is not reflected in the USA population nor is it reflected in the undergraduate student population. As the U.S. aspires to retain a leadership role in research and development in an increasingly diverse and globally interconnected society, this disparity is unsustainable. What if having more culturally interesting, more culturally responsive STEM classes is a way of increasing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce in the U.S.? This study focuses on a topic that has been generally overlooked by the STEM educational community, but one that is directly relevant to student engagement and learning outcomes: the role of culture as a variable in student learning. This study examines how different pedagogical approaches shape student outcomes in Astronomy 101 courses. In a comparative study two different pedagogical approaches were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a semiexperimental nonequivalent group research design. The theories of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), active learning theory in STEM, and Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) ground this approach. The findings of this study show important gains for all students. Underrepresented minority students (URM) in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy were exceptionally engaged and learning gains soared. By measure of the concept inventory, the URM students in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy outperformed all other students in the study. As the U.S. will have a non-white majority by the year 2045 and diversity in STEM faculty lags there is a need for tangible, evidence-based, culture-based curriculum and pedagogy. There is a problem and based on the evidence found in this study, there is a way to fix it.The U.S. has a problem: it is not effectively utilizing all the bright young minds available to its science & engineering workforce. In 2012 the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) reported that a million more STEM professionals in the U.S. workforce were needed over the next decade. PCAST reported that the situation is far worse for underrepresented students, who make up 70% of undergraduate students but only 45% of the STEM degrees. Recent reports suggest women in science and engineering have made small gains, while historically underrepresented ethnic groups (Blacks, Hispanics, American Indians) continue to be significantly underrepresented. The lack of diversity in the U.S. workforce is not reflected in the USA population nor is it reflected in the undergraduate student population. As the U.S. aspires to retain a leadership role in research and development in an increasingly diverse and globally interconnected society, this disparity is unsustainable. What if having more culturally interesting, more culturally responsive STEM classes is a way of increasing the diversity of the science and engineering workforce in the U.S.? This study focuses on a topic that has been generally overlooked by the STEM educational community, but one that is directly relevant to student engagement and learning outcomes: the role of culture as a variable in student learning. This study examines how different pedagogical approaches shape student outcomes in Astronomy 101 courses. In a comparative study two different pedagogical approaches were analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods in a semiexperimental nonequivalent group research design. The theories of culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP), active learning theory in STEM, and Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) ground this approach. The findings of this study show important gains for all students. Underrepresented minority students (URM) in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy were exceptionally engaged and learning gains soared. By measure of the concept inventory, the URM students in the course with increased culturally responsive pedagogy outperformed all other students in the study. As the U.S. will have a non-white majority by the year 2045 and diversity in STEM faculty lags there is a need for tangible, evidence-based, culture-based curriculum and pedagogy. There is a problem and based on the evidence found in this study, there is a way to fix it

Queer Teachers in Catholic Schools: Cosmic Perceptions of an Easter People

Queer-teacher lives aren’t easy! They experience isolation and bifurcation of their lives on a daily basis. How much more difficult must life be for these teachers in the theologically heteronormative context of the Catholic school? Yet, these teachers remain educators in these institutions, sensing goodness in what they are doing and in the future of these schools. Inspired by this interesting reality of tension, this study asks two important questions. First, how do queer teachers understand their identities as constructed in a Catholic school? Secondly, it wants to know what action teachers will take when they have come to an answer about their constructed identities. This dissertation incorporates queer studies, liberation theology, and critical pedagogy into a bricolage theory to fully address the intersectional lives of its participants. With a methodological approach informed by the ethics of culturally responsive research, this participatory action research begins from a moment of dialogical praxis towards the hope of social engagement. Crafted as a retreat in which queer educators share their stories of working in these institutions, this unique research incorporates the participants into the analysis process as essential actors in understanding the meaning of their own lives. The study reveals the perceptions of queer teachers about the ways that schools make meaning of their role in the educational environment as well as how they make meaning of their lives. Three major themes, “doing queer,” “being queer,” and “enforcing queer” show that these teachers are part of a complex reality in which their identities and performances in Catholic schools are dictated by the pull and push of fear enforced x through many channels in the Catholic school. These themes also show that teachers are actively making new meaning about themselves and acting in ways that seek to dismantle oppression in their institutions. The study also reveals a vibrant spirituality which emerges from the daily experience of being queer in a Catholic school. Geared towards social justice, this spirituality invites us to reimagine that work for social justice may mean pushing into oppression through a paschal victimhood which transforms institutions fundamentally from within

Paths with heart:transformative journeys in the imaginal realm

My inquiry is a hermeneutic investigation into the lived experience of, and interpersonal and intrapersonal processes involved in transformative learning in primarily affective and imaginal modes of being. Through the lens of an extended epistemology, my inquiry challenges assumptions that critical-thinking and conceptual-rational knowing should be central to the process of perspective change. We experience, interpret, and know the world through the body, imagination and intellect, and yet the intellect is often privileged in the process of transformative learning. This inquiry seeks a more expansive understanding of the multiple ways in which perspective change might be achieved. It explores the notion that our affective and imaginal capabilities play a significant role in development because they are central to meaning-making. My inquiry investigates the proposal that specific creative methods and methodologies can be employed intentionally to facilitate self-knowing and insights that can lead to change. It explores development as a creative process and through creative processes. An empathic approach of ‘methodological believing’ is employed to explore the roles of multiple modes of presence and ways of knowing in developmental learning. Through my inquiry, we gain a more nuanced understanding about what it might mean to transform. My findings support the argument that critical self-reflection is not always necessary for transformative experience, and that symbolic and performative acts, when guided by intent, can result in the embodied integration of insights and realisations. However, often transformative experience marks the beginning of a much longer process of change, which cannot be guaranteed. The contributions of the inquiry include development of the concept of the rite-of-passage as a useful metaphor for the process of development. Experiences of transformative journeys are synthesised into a rite-of-passage process network that illustrates the interpersonal and intrapersonal processes of transformative learning in affective and imaginal modes of presence

Stargazers' Anonymous: an Examination of Amateur Astronomy in New Zealand

In this examination of amateur astronomy in New Zealand, I suggest that astronomical science can be a medium through which adherents attempt to enact social transformation. Contemporary studies of leisure often emphasise the individualistic nature of leisure activity, with social interaction framed as a means to support the intrinsic and extrinsic motivations of participants. However, while amateur astronomers do engage in 'serious leisure' (Stebbins, 1979, 1992), I suggest their extended roles as educators and liaisons for professional counterparts push their endeavour beyond mere participation and into wider territories of public engagement and scientific discourse. Following analysis by Ruonavaara (1997), Rojek (1985, 2000), MacCannell (1976), Urry (1990) and Turner (1969), I argue that the New Zealand astronomical community's' proclivity for education operates as a forum for constructing recursive and normative action, in which ideologies congruent with scientific rationalism are disseminated through a form of moral regulation. Commencing with a discussion of the structure of New Zealand's astronomical community, I examine how informants' narratives and attitudes to contributive participation manifest in demonstrative actions that provide idealised templates for behaviour. Secondly, I discuss astronomy and public education, and how astronomical society volunteers utilise visitors' expectations of authenticity and perceptions of nature to formulate strategies for social change. Finally, I investigate the role and purpose of other astronomyrelated ventures, including Carterton's Stonehenge Aotearoa, culminating in a discussion concerning issues of knowledge, science and postmodernist deconstructionism

Design, implementation and evaluation of transnational collaborative programmes in astronomy education and public outreach

This thesis presents a study of how science can most effectively be used to engage and educate the global public and specifically describes the role of astronomy in doing this. Astronomy has a special place in the field of science education and public engagement with science. It has great appeal for large sections of the public for several reasons. We shall use astronomy as a case study to consider the effect and impact of transnational collaborations with innovative approaches and centralised coordination in science education and public outreach. The thesis is based on eight years of designing, implementing and evaluating transnational collaborative programmes in astronomy education and public outreach, from the perspective of the practitioner. We shall also show that large global science EPO projects can result in sustainable outcomes that outlive the projects themselves and analyse the various aspects of global science communication project that are necessary for their success.History of Scienc

O CANADA, WHOSE HOME AND NATIVE LAND? AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE INQUIRY INTO THE CRITICAL ROLE OF CURRICULUM IN IDENTITY AFFIRMATION

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) guarantees fundamental freedoms of conscience, religion, thought, belief, and opinion. However, the interpretation of such freedoms, and the extent of accommodation within the context of secular public schools, is not always clear (Shariff, 2006). I am a mother of four children who hold multiple identities, languages, nationalities and beliefs as Canadians. In this autobiographical narrative inquiry fused with poetic representation, I explore my ‘mother stories’ of my children’s experiences with curriculum in schools. Through this research, I examine the critical role of curriculum, implementation of curriculum, and shared curriculum making in affirming the identity of ethnically diverse students. The narratives of my experiences from immigration to citizenship, from multiculturalism to eurocentrism, from parent involvement to parent engagement, and from a racialized mother to a researcher are narratives of “gaps, silences, and exclusions shaped in the bumping places children and families experience in schools” (Clandinin, Huber, J., Huber, M., Murphy, Pearce, Murray-Orr, & Steeves, 2006, p. 173). Our lives are lived, and stories of our lives are told, retold, and relived on storied landscapes (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), landscapes on which larger social, cultural, political, and institutional narratives are simultaneously unfolding (Murphy & Bengezen, 2015). Seeing narrative as a “way of organizing episodes, actions, and accounts of actions” (Sarbin, 1986, p. 9), I engage in constructing “juxtapository narrative” (Bhabha, 2006) and “counter-storytelling” (Solorzano & Yosso, 2002) to challenge dominant stories of curriculum. I aim to sensitize readers – educators, curriculum and policy makers, parents, and community members – to the issues of identity politics and to experiences shrouded in silence in order to deepen individuals’ capacity to respond to the place and voice of people who are different from them (Ellis & Bochner, 2000). Growing up between two cultures and languages, living in in-between spaces, balancing cultural identities and a sense of belonging is a highly complex process for racialized children. Teachers, curriculum makers, and schools all play a fundamental role in shaping students’ identity. Too often, schools are places in which the complex conditions of minority parents’ and children’s lived experiences and their right to be heard are excluded and ignored. Practically, socially and poetically, this inquiry has the potential to positively impact the lives of racialized students, parents, and families by reimagining curriculum in ways that include multiple narratives, identities, realities, perspectives and practices and, thus, a place for their equal rights, voices on this land and in their home, Canada

Dialogue As Performance. Performance As Dialogue

This dissertation is an arts-based qualitative study in Leadership and Change that describes the qualities of dialogue revealed through the felt experience of Native and non-Native American music composers engaged in a dialogue through music composition. The fifteen co-collaborators who participated in the study range in age from three-years-old to elders. The study is theoretically embedded within Performance Studies, Dr. Carolyn Kenny’s music therapy model Field of Play, and aesthetic philosophy. Methodologically, this work is expressed through performance ethnography and autoethnography and privileges textual and non-textual modes of account including photographs, video excerpts, poetry, and music manuscript. The text is written utilizing two elements of music: melody and harmonic rhythm. The ethical guidelines and protocols developed for this study were derived from consideration of Kenny’s work and the ideas of other hermeneutic scholars. The interpretation of the dialogues describes qualities of the process of dialogue, considers intervening epistemological qualities, and focuses on the qualities of the sacred musical space. This dissertation includes attached video files. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible at the OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu